You can’t move rain clouds from one place to another unless you are a winter gale. And you can’t stop the rain by complaining either. However, cloud seeding says it can make a particular cloud rain more generously, and convert hail into sleet. Well that’s only part of the time of course, because the science is well, inexact. In fact many scientists say the results are random.
Alberta’s Plan to Get Clouds to Rain Moisture, and Not Hail.
The Alberta Hail Suppression Project is continuing an idea an entrepreneur began in the 1960’s. They receive C$3 million a year in funding from insurance companies to reduce hail damage in southern Alberta. Therefore, we can assume they must be having success with cloud seeding.
However, their work is not without critics who say clouds are in the public domain, and we should not interfere with the forces of nature. We wrote this post from the perspective of professional roofers in Calgary in the cloud seeding zone.
What You Should Need to Know About Cloud Seeding Over Calgary
1… You can’t seed precipitation from a dry cloud in a drought. But you can nudge a suitable moisture-laden cloud along by improving its performance.
2… You can’t take precipitation from a cloud, and let it fall over another location. However, if you seed a cloud where it is, some of the moisture may travel a distance driven by wind.
3… Seeding a cloud does not ‘steal the moisture’ from somewhere else. There is no evidence of this happening. But the social media are forever posting claims that this actually happened.
However, You May Experience Less Hail Damage to Your Home
Cloud seeding is popular in eleven western U.S. states. In fact, a number of ski resorts use it to cause snowfall. A study of crop insurance claims there, found 45% less crop damage in a target area over more than a decade.
Rain enhancement, and hail suppression seeding work the same way. You use a rocket or an airplane to put artificial dust in a target cloud. This changes the way the moisture bonds.
We’ll leave the topic there, because we are roofers and not meteorologists by far. However, we’ll append two links in case you would like explore cloud seeding further.
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Fitting Rigid Insulation Under Siding
Three Ways Cloud Seeding is Done: Image DooFi BY Public Domain